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A three-day polio eradication effort in Peshawar, Pakistan, launched on Monday is expected to immunize more than 700,000 children living in federally administrated tribal areas. Polio workers will go door to door to reach all children under the age of 5.

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Security concerns in some of Pakistan's tribal regions have caused as many as 240,000 children to miss being vaccinated for polio, according to World Health Organization officials. Vaccination efforts have narrowed the disease's presence to a few countries worldwide, and the disease remains rampant in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Dr. Elias Durry, head of anti-polio efforts in Pakistan, has praised the effectiveness of the oral vaccine and appealed to Pakistani parents to allow it to be administered to their children. "This is the first time, during my two decades of experience as a polio eradication expert in over 10 countries, which includes polio-free nations like Somalia, Egypt, India, Yemen and Sudan that I have felt the need to pick up my pen to dismiss the apprehensions that have been raised about polio eradication in Pakistan," Durry writes.

A physician from Ghana was wounded today in Pakistan when the United Nations vehicle in which he was traveling came under attack by gunmen in Karachi amid a three-day polio vaccination campaign targeting 34 million children younger than 5. The vehicle's Pakistani driver also was injured. The campaign will not reach some 280,000 children living in tribal areas of North and South Waziristan, where Taliban militants imposed a ban on vaccines in protest of U.S. drone attacks.

If Pakistan's faltering polio vaccination drive falls short, some 200,000 children worldwide could be at risk of contracting the virus, according to a World Health Organization official. Pakistan is especially motivated to overcome the obstacles from natural disasters, misinformation and war to finally eradicate polio after its rival, India, recently celebrated one year without any new wild polio infections.

The Pakistani government has signed deals with the UN children's agency and the World Health Organization to dedicate $41 million to help sustain the country's campaign to eradicate polio. An estimated 32 million children are vaccinated annually in Pakistan, yet 75 new cases of the disease already have been reported this year.